HotelChatter

Travel + Leisure's list names 175 hotels and resorts in the mainland U.S. (and 25 in Hawaii, which I list separately). Traveler Magazine lists 124; 201 separate properties are mentioned by one or both.  Of those 201, all but a couple are mentioned in the Zagat Survey (comprehensiveness is why I love Zagat Surveys); Zagat lists a total of 245 properties (again, mainland U.S. only) that score 23 or better combined on their 30-point scale.  All told, 97 make all three lists, and 186 make two of the three lists.

For you number weenies, I normalized the scores, giving 99 points to the top scorer and proportionately less to each property in order.  Then I averaged all three scores.  There's a little more to it than that, but you'll have to e-mail me if you want all the gory details.

Some stellar properties didn't make all three lists.  The highest-scoring places among these are: Wheatleigh, in the Berkshires; Four Seasons Washington; Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch; Charlotte Inn, on Martha's Vineyard; and the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale. (Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch and the Sanctuary were neglected by T+L; the others by Traveler.) I swallowed hard and concluded that as nice as these properties are, you can't categorically state that a "Best Hotels" or "Best Resorts" list is incomplete without them.  However, make a note of the highest-scoring properties named on only one list: Canoe Bay in Wisconsin; Twin Farms in Vermont; Goldener Hirsch in Utah.  That's pretty highfalutin' company, but there's no mathematical way to include them here.  Sorry, folks.

Of the 97 properties on all lists, I categorized 36 as a hotel and 61 as a resort.  Doing so can be a little dicey, but I think the distinction was clear in almost every case.  Herewith the top 36 hotels and top 40 resorts in the mainland U.S., according to Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler and the Zagat Survey:

Top 36 U.S. Hotels

1. Peninsula Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA (97.86)
2. Peninsula Chicago, Chicago, IL (97.60)
3. Four Seasons Chicago, Chicago, IL (94.88)
4. Ritz-Carlton, Chicago, IL (92.69)
5. Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV (90.70)
6. Four Seasons San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (89.83)
7. Four Seasons New York, New York, NY (87.53)
7. Four Seasons Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (87.53)
9. Windsor Court, New Orleans, LA (87.52)
10. Mandarin Oriental Miami, Miami, FL (86.47)
11. Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles, CA (85.90)
12. Four Seasons Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, CA (85.49)
13. Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas, TX (85.46)
14. Four Seasons Boston, Boston, MA (85.35)
15. Four Seasons Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV (85.10)
16. Ritz-Carlton Central Park, New York, NY (83.70)
17. St. Regis New York, New York, NY (82.26)
18. Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (80.86)
19. Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, Atlanta, GA (80.40)
20. Mandarin Oriental San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (80.25)
21. Regent Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, CA (75.87)
22. Trump International Hotel, New York, NY (75.02)
23. Charleston Place, Charleston, SC (74.53)
24. Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA (73.94)
25. Raffles L'Ermitage, Beverly Hills, CA (73.91)
26. XV Beacon, Boston, MA (73.78)
27. Ritz-Carlton Battery Park, New York, NY (72.21)
28. Venetian, Las Vegas, NV (72.03)
29. Four Seasons Atlanta, Atlanta, GA (71.31)
30. The Pierre, New York, NY (70.89)
31. Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia, PA (68.46)
32. Maison Orleans, New Orleans, LA (67.77)
33. Peninsula New York, New York, NY (65.28)
34. Campton Place, San Francisco, CA (65.12)
35. Planters Inn, Charleston, SC (63.99)
36. Four Seasons Newport Beach, Newport Beach, CA (63.38)

Top 40 U.S. Resorts

1. Blackberry Farm, Walland, TN (98.01)
2. The Point, Saranac Lake, NY (95.42)
3. Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, CA (95.24)
4. Ritz-Carlton Naples, Naples, FL (92.36)
5. Inn at Little Washington, Washington, VA (88.60)
6. Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, CA (88.53)
7. The Cloister, Sea Island, GA (88.49)
8. Little Nell, Aspen, CO (88.22)
9. Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, UT (87.03)
10. Little Palm Island, Little Torch Key, FL (86.88)
11. Lodge at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach, CA (86.19)
12. Woodlands Resort & Inn, Summerville, SC (84.36)
13. Montage Resort & Spa, Laguna Beach, CA (84.24)
14. Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Carlsbad, CA (84.07)
15. Tu Tu' Tun Lodge, Gold Beach, OR (82.90)
16. Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, Amelia Island, FL (82.32)
17. Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, CA (82.07)
18. Rancho Valencia Resort, Rancho Santa Fe, CA (81.47)
19. Fearrington House, Pittsboro, NC (81.34)
20. Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, CA (81.17)
21. Royal Palms Resort, Phoenix, AZ (80.14)
22. Boulders Resort, Carefree, AZ (79.15)
23. The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, WV (78.67)
24. The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ (78.27)
25. Château du Sureau, Oakhurst, CA (78.19)
26. Mayflower Inn, Washington, CT (77.82)
27. Sunset Key Guest Cottages, Key West, FL (77.19)
28. Sonnenalp Resort, Vail, CO (77.12)
29. St. Regis Aspen, Aspen, CO (76.97)
30. Four Seasons Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL (75.37)
31. Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, FL (75.28)
32. Lodge at Sea Island, Sea Island, GA (75.06)
33. Bernardus Lodge, Carmel, CA (74.62)
34. St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, CA (74.60)
35. Wauwinet, Nantucket, MA (74.37)
36. The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO (73.50)
37. Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, GA (72.46)
38. Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale, Scottsdale, AZ (71.41)
39. Enchantment Resort, Sedona, AZ (71.18)
40. Four Seasons Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA (71.12

Now, about Hawaii.  All properties in Hawaii can be considered resorts, so I put them all in one pile and normalized their scores 99-98-97-etc.  Nineteen resorts made all three lists, and here they are in order:

1. Four Seasons Hualalai, Ka'upulehu, Big Island (99.00)
2. Four Seasons Maui, Wailea, Maui (97.33)
3. Halekulani, Honolulu, Oahu (96.67)
4. Lodge at Koele, Lanai City, Lanai (96.33)
5. Kahala Mandarin Oriental, Honolulu, Oahu (93.50)
6. Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Kohala, Big Island (93.17)
7. Fairmont Kea Lani, Wailea, Maui (91.33)
7. Manele Bay Hotel, Lanai City, Lanai (91.33)
9. Hyatt Regency Kauai, Koloa, Kauai (90.17)
10. Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, Kapalua, Maui (90.00)
10. Princeville Resort, Princeville, Kauai (90.00)
12. Fairmont Orchid, Kohala, Big Island (86.83)
13. Hapuna Beach Prince, Kohala, Big Island (86.67)
14. Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Kohala, Big Island (85.67)
15. Kapalua Bay Hotel, Kapalua, Maui (84.50)
16. Hana-Maui, Hana, Maui (84.33)
17. Kona Village Resort, Kailua-Kona, Big Island (83.67)
18. Grand Wailea Resort, Wailea, Maui (82.67)
19. JW Marriott Ihilani, Kapolei, Oahu (82.67)

T+L's list of Top 500 covers the whole world, but it won't be until April until Zagat publishes its list of the worldwide best, and Traveler magazine's annual results come out in July.  Expect another posting from me in July duplicating this list for the world outside the U.S.